Ski boot heel binding device



Jan. 30, 1968 GHCHI SHlMlZU SKI BOOT HEEL BINDING DEVICE 5 Sheets-Sheet1 Filed Aug. 10, 1966 INVENTOR. v Giichi Shimizu ATTORNEY Jan. 30, 1968I GllCHl SHIMIZU SKI BOOT HEEL BINDING DEVICE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledAug. 10, 1966 ATTORNEY 1968 GIICHI SHIMIZU 3,

SKI BOOT HEEL BINDING DEVICE Filed Aug. 10, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 r, I 2INVENTOR Z 5-7 54 *9 Giichi Shimizu ATTORNEY United States Patent3,366,394 SKI BGOT HEEL BINDING DEVICE Giichi Shimizu, Tokyo, Japan,assignor to Ever New Inc., Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan Filed Aug. 10, 1966,Ser. No. 571,618 Claims priority, application Japan, Aug. 17, 1965, 40/49,729 6 Claims. (Cl. 280-4135) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A ski bootheel binding device comprising a springloaded casing slidably mounted ona ski for back and forth movement along the ski; a holding down meanspivotally connected to said casing and adapted to abut against the upperrear edge of the heel of a ski boot; an integral spur pivoted to saidcasing and adapted to engage the bottom surface of said heel, saidholding down means and spur cooperating to define jaws having a fixedopening therebetween for accommodating said heel; and a pair of parallelbrackets for pivotally supporting at their one ends said holding downmeans and spur and pivotally connected at their other ends to saidslidable casing, said pair of brackets being movable between a firstposition in which they are in a substantially horizontal and parallelrelation and a second position in which they are in a substantiallyvertical and parallel relation.

Field of the invention The present invention relates to an improved skiboot heel binding device, and more particularly to a ski boot heelbinding device of the type which when the user steps with his ski bootinto the binding device automatically secures the binding device to theheel of the ski boot and which can be opened at will, for example byslight pressure with a ski pole. According to one aspect of the presentinvention, a holding down means which is adapted to engage the heel of aski boot from the top and a spur which is adapted to engage the heelfrom below are integrally formed with a coupling which connects betweenthe holding down means and spur so as to provide a unitary boot heelengaging or securing unit and the unitary engaging unit is pivotallyconnected to the slidable casing of the binding device by means of apair of parallel pivotal brackets. According to another aspect of thepresent invenion, the spur is formed as a separate piece from theholding down means and coupling and pivotally connected to the combinedholding down means and coupling and to the casing so that the spur mayincline independent of the holding down means and coupling to an anglecorresponding to that of the bottom of the ski boot heel as the heel isabout to be secured by the binding device.

Description of the prior art In one rior art ski boot heel bindingdevice a spring casing is slidably mounted on the support plate or mountfixedly supported on the ski for back and forth movement along thesupport plate so that the casing may closely follow the movement of theheel of the ski boot secured in the binding device and the casing isnormally urged forwardly or against the back of the boot heel by theforce of a coil spring which is disposed in a compressed state Withinthe casing. The slidable casing supports on its front end surface avertically movable holding down means which engages the upper rear edgeof the boot heel and a depressible spur which engages the bottom of theboot heel and which is vertically spaced from the holding down means.When the user steps with his boot heel into such a prior art bindingdevice the holding down means automaticaliy descends to engage the upperrear edge of the ski boot heel and at the same time the slidable casingabuts against the back of the boot heel by the force of the springwhereby the boot heel may be firmly held in position within the bindingdevice by the cooperation of a conventional holding down means for thetoe of the boot with the heel binding device. However, in the prior artboot heel binding device, when the user steps with the ski boot heelinto the binding device, as the holding down means which is now in aposition high above the upper ridge of the boot heel descends down toabut against the upper rear edge of the heel the holding down meansfrequently hits against the back of the heel, upper ridge or otherundesired points on the heel resulting in improper holding of the bootheel.

Summary of the invention The above disadvantage may be overcome by thearrangement in which when the ski boot heel binding device does not holdthe boot heel therein, the mouth defined by the holding down means andspur may be positioned in an inclined or angled position Whoseinclination degree increases toward the boot heel which is beinginserted into the device so that the heel may be conveniently insertedinto the device, but it is rather difficult to obtain a properinclination angle for the mouth. If the mouth cannot be positioned at asuitable angle with respect to the heel the misalignment of the holdingdown means with the boot heel will aggravate further. In another attemptto eliminate the above difiiculty, the holding down means and spur arearranged in such a manner that the mouth defined by the twoconstructural elements may be turned sideways with respect to the axisof the ski when the mouth receives the boot heel thereby decreasing thefrequency of the misalignment of the holding down means with the bootheel. However, this arrangement inevitably makes it difficult toproperly position the boot heel within the mouth after the insertion ofthe heel therein.

A further attempt to eliminate the above disadvantage is to arrange theholding down means and spur in such a manner that the mouth defined bythe two constructural elements may widen gradually as the elements moverearwardly, but such an arrangement necessarily requires a complicatedmechanism for Widening and narrowing the mouth. Furthermore, thearrangement has an inherent disadvantage in that if the user fails tostep with his boot heel sufliciently deep into the mouth, the holdingdown means may bite the upper rear edge of the heel.

Therefore, one object of the present invention is to provide an improvedski boot heel binding device which can effectively eliminate the abovedisadvantages inherent in the prior art boot heel binding devices.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a ski boot heelbinding device which comprises a springloaded slidable casing and aholding down means and an integral spur which are respectively pivotedto the casing by means of one end of a pair of parallel brackets withthe other end of the brackets being pivoted to the casing whereby theholding down means and spur may move horizontally toward and away fromthe boot heel and also move upwardly and downwardly in unison orseparately.

When the user steps with his boot heel into the novel binding device theholding down means and spur automatically move toward the heelhorizontally With the bottom surface of the holding down meansmaintained in a plane substantially the same as that in which the upperrim of the heel lies until the holding down means abuts against theupper rear edge of the heel and the spur engages the bottom surface ofthe heel thereby to firmly secure the heel within the mouth defined bythe two constructural elements. When the boot heel is desired to bereleased from the binding device slight pressure is exerted V a on arelease mechanism operatively connected to the elements so as to causethe elements to horizontally move away from the heel and then to moveupwardly.

Description of the drawings The above and other objects and attendantadvantages of the present invention will become apparent to thoseskilled in the art from a reading of the following detailed explanationof the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, whereinFIG. 1 is a longitudinally sectional view of a preferred form of skiboot heel binding device embodying the present invention showing theposition of the device in which the binding device firmly holds the heelof a ski boot therein;

FIG. 2 is similar to FIG. 1, but shows a different operative orreleasing position of the binding device in which the heel of a ski bootis being released from the binding device;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plane view of said binding device of FIG. 1showing the spring adjusting mechanism;

FIG. 4 is a plane view of said binding device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view of a modified form of binding deviceshowing the essential elements in vertical section;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view of a further modified form of bindingdevice showing the essential elements in vertical section;

FIG. 7 is a longitudinally sectional view of a further modified form ofbinding device;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary view in vertical section which especially showsthe link mechanism of said binding device shown in FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary View in vertical section which especially showsthe locking means of said binding device shown in FIG. 7.

Description of the preferred embodiments Referring now to FIGS. 1through 4 which illustrate a preferred or first embodiment of ski bootheel binding device according to the present invention, referencenumeral 1 indicates the spring loaded slidable casing or support memberof the binding device and the casing is formed in an elongated box shapeextending along the longitudinal direction of a ski on which the bindingdevice is mounted. The casing 1 includes vertically and longitudinallyextending opposite side walls 2 whose lower edges 2 and 2' extendoutwardly substantially at right angles with respect to the side wallsso as to form flanges. An elongated mount or track member 3 is fixedlymounted on the top surface of the ski by any suitable means (not shown)and the mount has upper flanges 3' and 3' on the top of its oppositesides which are inwardly curved toward each other by a short distancewith a narrow space from the surface of the mount 3 so as to definetracks in which the outwardly extending lower edges or flanges 2' and 2'of the casing walls 2 and 2 may fit loosely so that the flanges 2' and 2may slide along the tracks. From the arrangement described above, itwill be understood that the spring-loaded casing 1 may be slidablysupported by and move back and forth along the mount 3 by means of theflanges 3 and 3 thereof. A transverse spring securing member 4 extendsbetween the opposite side walls 2 and 2 of the casing 1 and the oppositeends of the securing member are fixedly supported by the casing walls.An adjustable U-shaped support member 5 is provided in a positiondiametrically opposite to the spring securing member 4 between theopposite side walls 2' and 2' of the casing 1. A coil spring 6 isdisposed in a compressed state between the securing member 4 and supportmember 5 with the opposite ends of the spring secured to the two members4 and 5 by means of any suitable means (not shown) so as to normallyurge the casing 1 forwardly into abut engagement with the back of theheel of a ski boot A. An upright screw supporting rack member 7 projectsupwardly from the mount 3 at a point rearwardly spaced from the U-shapemember 5 and is provided with a circular threaded hole for threadablyreceiving an adjusting screw 8. The fore end of the adjusting screw 8extends through the corresponding circular threaded hole of the U-shapedsupporting member 5 into the coil spring 6 and the other end of thescrew extends through the circular threaded hole of the screw supportingrack member 7. An annular stop 32 is threadably mounted on the screw 8between the opposite ends of the screw. The annular stop 32 ispositioned inwardly of the rack member 7 or the left side of the rackmember as seen in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 and adapted to abut against the inneror left surface of the rack member. A knurled knob 25 is fixedly mountedon the rear or extended end of the adjusting screw 8. The opposite legportions of the U-shaped support member 5 are provided withcorrespondingly positioned slots 10 and 1t) and short bars 9 and 9extend respectively through the opposite side walls 2 and 2 of thecasing and the respective slots 1 into the interior of the member 5. Theoppo-.

so as to move the U-shaped support member 5 forwardly or backwardly bymeans of the adjusting screw 8 and when the position of the member hasbeen adjusted the support member is set in the adjusted position wherebya new travelling distance of the casing may be determined.

Such adjustment is necessary to enable the binding device to accommodateski boots having a wide variety of shapes and configurations. The abovementioned arrangement of the various parts of a binding device for theheel of a ski boot is conventional and further detailed explanation ofthese parts will not be necessary.

According to one feature of the present invention, the holding downmeans 11 and spur 12 are pivotally supported by means of a pair ofsubstantially parallel and spaced brackets 13 and 14 in a unique manner.The brackets 13 and 14 have substantially the same size andconfiguration and one end of the brackets are pivoted by means of pinsor shafts a and b to the leading edge of the casing 1 which pins extendtransversely of the casing in a vertically spaced relation and aresuitably supported at the opposite ends in the casing walls 2 and 2. Theother ends of the brackets 13 and 14 are pivoted by means of anotherpair of pins or shafts c and d to a coupling 15 with which the holdingdown means 11 and spur 12 are integrally formed. The pins 0 and d alsoextend transversely of the casing 1 and are suitably supported at theopposite ends in the casing walls in a vertically spaced relation with adistance corresponding to that between the first pair or pins a and b.As seen in FIG. 1, the holding down means 11 and spur 12 are formed indifferent angular shapes. The holding down means 11 has an angular shapeincluding a shorter horizontal portion and a longer verticalportionwhilst the spur 12 includes two horizontal and vertical portions ofsubstantially the same length and they are integral with each other andthe coupling 15. The thus in terconnected coupling 15, upper and lowerbrackets 13, 14 and the leading edge of the casing 1 form a linkagemechanism in cooperation with the pins or shafts a, b, cand d wherebythe coupling 15 holding down means 11 and spur 12 may pivot in unisonvertically relative to the casing 1.

Since the brackets 13 and 14 and pins 0 and d are causedto swingupwardly and downwardly as the coupling 15, holding down means 11 andspur 12 are moved upwardly and downwardly relative to the casing 1, whenthe coupling 15 holding down means 11 and spur 12 are inthe boot heelreleasing position or in a raised position as shown with the dotted linein FIG. 2, the fore ends of the brackets 13 and 14 (the bracket endspivoted at c and d) are swung to positions higher than those of the rearends of these brackets (the bracket ends pivoted at a and b) in whichthe brackets are in a substantially vertical position. To the contrary,as the coupling 15, holding down means 11 and spur 12 are moved towardthe boot heel holding position or the lowest position as shown in FIG.1, the fore ends of the brackets 13 and 14 are caused to swingdownwardly and forwardly while drawing arcs. In the heel holdingposition, the brackets are in a substantially horizontal posi ion. Inother words, when brackets 13 and 14 are in the boot heel holdingposition (see FIG. 1), their fore ends assume positions slightly lowerthan the other ends thereof whilst when the brackets are in the ski bootreleasing position then fore ends assume positions substantially higherthan the other ends thereof.

The brackets 13 and 14 also serve to hold the coupling 15, holding downmeans 11 and spur 12 in the ski boot heel holding position when thebrackets are in the position as shown in FIG. 1 under the influence ofthe coil spring 6. In this position of the coupling 15, holding downmeans 11 and spur 12 of FIG. 1, the heel of a ski boot A abuts againstthe coupling 15 and presses the same backwardly, and the second pair ofpins c and d assumes a position slightly lower than that of the firstpair of pins a and b. As soon as the pair of pins c and d move beyondthe dead point of the coil spring 6, the movement of the pins 0 and dshifts to a downward movement thereby to cause the coupling 15, holdingdown mean 11 and spur 12 to descend to their lowest position in whichthey are stationary.

Reference numeral 16 indicates an angular safety or release lever in theform of a pawl. The lever 16 is pivoted at its lower pawl portion to atransverse shaft 17 which extends transversely of the casing 1 and issuitably journalled in the casing walls 2 and 2. The outer surface ofthe lever 16 is provided at the juncture between the lower pawl portionand upper handle portion with a step 16a which is adapted to engage thelower edge of an engaging piece 18 rearwardly projecting from the rearend of the upper bracket 13. The inner surface of the lower pawl portionof the lever 16 has one end of an adjustable coil spring 19 securedthereto and the other end of the spring 16 is received within anadjustable cylindrical sleeve 31 whose outer periphery is provided witha thread. The upper handle portion of the lever 16 upwardly extendsthrough an opening 20 formed in the top wall of the casing 1 and isadapted to be depressed by means of for example, a ski pole. An annularadjusting nut having an inner threaded peripheral surface is threaded onthe sleeve 31 and portion of the annular nut projects through an openingformed in the casing 1 to be manually operated. Thus, by turning theannular nut 30 in either direction, the sleeve 31 may displace forwardlyor backwardly thereby to adjust the strength of the spring 19 asdesired. The spring 19 normally urges the lever 16 forwardly intoengagement with the engaging piece 18 whereby the upper bracket 13 maybe normally subjected to a biasing force by virtue of the engagement ofthe engaging piece 18 with the step 16a on the lever 16. As mentionedabove, the handle portion of the lever 16 extends upwardly through theopening 20 formed in the top wall of the casing 1 and a detention recess21 (FIG. 4) is provided at a suitable point in the lever handle portionfor receiving a stop (not shown) which normally holds the lever in thenon-operative position. In order to positively return the brackets 13and 14 to their original horizontal position after the step 16a on thelever 16 has come out of its engagement with the engaging piece 18 dueto the rotation of the lever 16 in the counterclock direction, eitherthe upper bracket 13 or lower bracket 14 i provided with a returnplatespring 22 (in the em bodiment as illustrated, the lower bracket 14 isprovided with the return spring 22). The return spring 22 is passedaround the pivot pins b and d and one end of the spring is secured tothe pin d whilst the other spring end is secured to the bottom of thespring securing member 4.

By the provision of the return spring 22, assuming that the step 16a onthe lever 16 has come out of its engagement with the engaging piece 18due to the rotation of the lever in the counterclockwise direction andthe brackets 13 and 14 have come to a substantially vertical positionrespectively resulting in lifting of the coupling 15, which isoperatively connected to the brackets as shown in FIG. 1: the holdingdown means 11 and spur 12 which are integrally connected to the coupling15 are also lifted with a predetermined width of mouth maintainedtherebetween for accommodating the heel of a ski boot.

In this position ready for use as indicated with the full line in FIG.2, the user steps into the ski boot heel binding device depressing thespur 12 with his ski boot heel A (indicated by the dotted line in FIG.2), the brackets 13 and 14 are caused to swing counterclockwise to theposition in FIG. 1 in which they are in a substantially horizontal andparallel relation. Since the upper and lower brackets 13 and 14 drawarcs as indicated with the imaginary lines e and f in FIG. 2 as they arecaused to swing counterclockwise on the pivot pins a and b as justmentioned above, the holding down means 11, spur 12 and coupling 15 areforwardly pushed by a distance indicated with g in FIG. 2 during thecounterclockwise rotation of the brackets 13 and 14. The position of theholding down means 11, spur 12 and coupling 15 after they have beenforwardly pushed as just mentioned above is indicated with the dottedline in FIG. 2.

Therefore, it will be understood that when the user steps with his bootheel A in the binding device maintained in the position wherein theholding down means 11, spur 12 and coupling 15 are in their liftedposition shown in FIG. 2, the holding down means 11 and spur 12 areforced to move forwardly or firmly abut against the heel A whilemaintaining their horizontal state as they rotate counterclockwisewhereby the holding down means 11 can firmly hold the rear edge of theboot heel A from above and the spur 12 can firmly engage the bottomsurface of the heel as shown in FIG. 1.

With the above arrangement of the novel ski boot heel binding device,disadvantages inherent in the similar prior art ski boot heel bindingdevices can be effectively eliminated. For example, in a prior artbinding device of the type in which when the user steps with his skiboot heel into the binding device the holding down means and spur areforced to lean backwardly so as to widen the mouth defined therebetweenfor easy accommodation of the boot heel with the consequence of backwardleaning of the coupling which connects between the holding means andspur, and in such a binding device the rear bottom edge of the ski bootheel has a tendency to hit against the coupling so as to push thecoupling backwardly to the extent that the position of the holding downmeans may be undesirably low with respect to the upper rear edge of theski boot heel thereby making it impossible to properly hold the heel bymeans of the holding down means. Furthermore, in such a prior art skiboot heel binding device since the thus backwardly inclined holding downmeans is urged against the heel, the holding down means has the tendencyto bite the back of the heel.

On the contrary, according to the novel ski boot heel binding device bythe present invention, since the holding down means 11 is urged againstthe ski boot heel A in a horizontal plane with its upper horizontalportion maintained in a plane substantially the same as the plane inwhich the upper edge of the heel lies, the wedgeshaped inner surface ofthe holding down means 11 can firmly hold the rear upper edge of the skiboot heel thereby eliminating the disadvantages inherent to the priorart binding device as mentioned just above.

FIG. 5 fragmentarily illustrates a modified form of binding deviceembodying the present invention in section. It is understood that thesame reference numerals and characters are used for correspondingstructural parts as in the illustration of FIGS. 1 through 4. in thismodified embodiment, the distance it between the pair of pivots c and aat which the fore ends of the upper and lower brackets 13 and 14 arepivotall supported is made shorter than that between the other pair ofpivots a and b at which the rear ends of the two brackets are pivotallysupported. Alternatively, the upper bracket 13 may be formed somewhatshorter than the lower bracket 14 whereby when the fore ends of thebrackets 13 and 14- are pivoted clockwise to the position indicated withthe dotted line in FIG. 5 in which the brackets are in a slightlyinclined state, the holding down means 11, spur 12 and coupling 15 whichare pivotally supported by the fore ends of the brackets 13 and 14 arelifted and inwardly inclined and the inclination angle of the thusinclined spur 12 corresponds to that of the bottom surface of the skiboot heel A in the initial stage in the stepping of the boot into thebinding device. The arrangement of this modified form of binding deviceensures positive stepping of the ski boot heel into the binding deviceand eliminates possible damage to the bottom surface of the heel A aswell as attainment of the advantages as described in connection with theembodiment in FIGS. 1 through 4. The other constructural elements ofthis embodiment are the same as those of FIG. 6 which fragmentarilyillustrates a second modilied embodiment of ski boot heel binding deviceaccording to the present invention. Again the same reference numbers andcharacters are used for corresponding structural parts as in theillustrations in FIGS. 1 through 4 and FTG. 5. In this secondmodification, the upper and lower brackets 13 and 14- have the samelength and pivotally/support the coupling 15 and holding down means 11and spur 12 as in the case of the embodiment of FlGS. 1 through 4, butthe spur i2 is formed as a separate piece instead of being formedintegrally with the coupling 15 and holding down means 11 as in theforegoing embodiments. The spur 12 in the form of a separate piece ispivoted at 24 to the coupling 15 for upward and downward pivotalmovement relative to the latter. A further bracket 23 is pivoted at oneend at 24 to the adjacent end of the spur l2 and coupling 15 and at theother end at 33 to the casing 1. Since the spur 12 is formed as aseparate piece from the coupling 15 with which the holding down means 11is iutegraland the spur is pivotally supported by the coupling asmentioned just above, as the coupling 15 and holding down means 11 arecaused to pivot counterclockwise in the manner as described inconnection with the first embodiment, the spur i2 is caused to risewhile tilting leftwards or toward the ski boot heel A until the spurtakes a predetermined position as indicated with the dotted line in FiG.6 in which the inclination angle of the spur corresponds to that of thebottom surface of the heel A.

FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 schematically and fragmentarily illustrate a thirdmodified embodiment of ski boot heel binding device of the presentinvention respectively. In these figures the constructural partscorresponding to those of the foregoing embodiments are indicated usingthe same reference numerals and characters with addition of primesthereto respectively.

Referring now to FIG. 7, reference numeral 56 indicates a stop pawlwhich is fixedly riveted to the coupling 15 in any conventional way andhas a detention recess 56' in its inner peripheral edge (the right sideas seen in FIG. 7). A stop arm 55 is pivotally supported at one end bymeans of a transverse pivot pin 59 which transversely extends the casingi in the side walls 2 and 2' of the casing 1' and carrie a transversestop pin 5 at the other or free end which is adapted to be received inthe detention recess 56 of the stop pawl 55. A connecting rod 51 extendshorizontally and axially within the casing i and has a holed head 5d atone end which is pivotally mountedon the stop pin 53. The other end 8 tof the connecting rod 51 is pivoted at 52 to a release 5%) which is alsopivoted at 52 to the casing 1'. Thus, it will be understood that thestop arm may be operatively connected through the stop pin 53 andconnecting rod 51 to the release 5-0. The stop arm 55 has a spring seatin its inner peripheral edge (the left side as seen in FIG. 7) foranchoring one end of the coil spring 6 which is identical with the coilspring 6 in the first embodiment of FIGS. 1 through 4. Thus, it wtll beclear that the casing 1 is normally urged forwardly by the force of thecoil spring 6' in the same manner as in the case of the firstembodiment. A second coil spring 15 is disposed around the connectingrod 51 with one end of the spring secured to the head 54 of theconnecting rod. The other end of the coil spring 19 is received withinthe adjustable cylindrical sleeve 31' hava threaded outer peripherythrough which the connecting rod 51 extends axially. The sleeve 31' isadjustably received within a casing 57 which is in turn secured by anysuitable means (not shown) to the casing 1' and the position of thesleeve 31' in the sleeve casing 57 may be adjusted by loosening a boss58 which transversely extends through the sleeve casing and turning anannular nut 30' threadedly mounted on the sleeve 31 and afteradjustment, the sleeve 31 may be held in position within the sleevecasing by tightening the boss 58. The relative movement of the sleeve 31with respect to the sleeve casing 57 is prevented by means of the boss58. Thus, it will be understood that the strength of the spring 19' maybe adjusted by the adjustment of the position or" the sleeve 31 in thesleeve casing 57. In the embodiment of FIGS. 7, 8 and 9, the arrangementand operation of the brackets 13' and 14 are substantially the same asthose of the corresponding parts in the first embodiment of FIGS. 1through 4 except that the dis-v tance between the pivotal pins 0 and dis longer than that between the pivot pins a and b and as a result, whenthe upper and lower brackets 13' and 14' are pivoted counterclockwise onthe pivot pins a and b the coupling 15' holding down means 11 and spur12 are caused to move upwardly and rearwardly thereby to position thehorizontal portion of the spur 12' at an angle substantiallycorresponding to that of the bottom surface of a skiboet (not shown) asindicated by the dotted line in FIGS. 7 and 8.

The operation of the embodiment of FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 will be brieflyexplained. When the user steps with his ski boot heel into the modifiedform of ski boot heel binding device maintained in the position foraccommodating the boot heel as indicated with the dotted line in FIGS. 7and 8 so as to depress down the spur 12, the holding down means I11 andcoupling 15 which are integral with the spur l2' are also pivotallymoved down wardly toward the full line position in FIGS. 7 and 8 byvirtue of their pivotal connection with the brackets 13 and 14 whichalso pivot counterclockwise toward the full line position in F168. 7, 8,9 in synchronization with the spur 12', holding down 11' and coupling15'.

I? on the connecting rod 51 whereby the boot heel can be firmly heldbetween the holding down means 11 and spur l2.

vhen it is desired to release the boot heel from the binding device,pressure may be exerted so as to depress the release 5% by a suitablemeans, for example by a ski pole (not shown). The connecting rod 51 isthen pulled rearwardly against the force of the spring 19 so as to causethe stop arm 59 to pivot clockwise on the pivot pin 59 with the resultthat stop pin 53 is released from its locking in the detention recess56. Whereupon the brackets 13 and 14 are caused to pivot clockwise ontheir pivots a and b resulting in similar pivotal movement or" theholding down means 11', spur 9 12' and coupling 15' to the dotted linein FIGS. 7 and 8 in which the boot heel is ready for release from thebinding device.

While several preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown anddescribed in detail it will be understood that they are for the purposeof illustration only and are not to be taken as a definition of theinvention, reference being had for this purpose to the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A ski boot heel binding device comprising a springloaded casingslidably mounted on a ski for back and forth movement along the ski; aholding down means pivotally connected to said casing and adapted toabut against the upper rear edge of the heel of a ski boot; an integralspur pivoted to said casing and adapted to engage the bottom surface ofsaid heel, said holding down means and spur cooperating to define jawshaving a fixed opening therebetween for accommodating said heel; and apair of parallel brackets for pivotally supporting at their one endssaid holding down means and spur and pivotally connected at their otherends to said slidable casing, said pair of brackets being movablebetween a first position in which they are in a substantially horizontaland parallel relation and a second position in which they are in asubstantially vertical and parallel relation.

2. A ski boot heel binding device as set forth in claim 1, in which saidholding down means and spur are integrally connected to each other bymeans of an intermediate coupling thereby to form a unitary boot heelengaging unit.

3. A ski boot heel binding device as set forth in claim 1, in which aplate spring is provided on one of said pair of brackets for returningthe brackets to said first position after they have pivoted to saidsecond position.

4. A ski boot heel binding device as set forth in claim 1, in which aspring-loaded pawl lever is pivotally connected to said casing forholding and releasing said brackets.

5. A ski boot heel binding device comprising a springloaded casingslidably mounted on a ski for back and forth movement along the ski; aholding down means pivotally connected to said casing and adapted toabut against the upper rear edge of the heel of a ski boot; a separatespur pivoted to a specific bracket which is in turn pivoted to saidcasing and adapted to pivot independently of said holding down meansthereby to define a mouth of a variable opening in cooperating with saidholding down means for accommodating different sizes of boot heels; anda pair of parallel brackets for pivotally and separately supporting attheir one ends said holding down means and spur and pivotally connectedat their other ends to said casing, said pair of brackets being movablebetween a first position in which they are in a substantially horizontaland parallel relation and a second position in which they are in asubstantially vertical and parallel relation.

6. A ski boot heel binding device as set forth in claim 1, in whichthere is further provided a locking and releasing mechanism for saidholding down means and spur, said mechanism comprising a stop pawlriveted to said casing and having a detention recess therein, a stop armpivoted to said casing and coupling, and having a transverse stop pinadapted to engage in said stop pawl detention recess, a spring loadedconnecting rod having a head at one end pivoted on said stop pin andpivoted at the other end on a release, and a sleeve and casing assemblyfor said connecting rod.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,125,349 3/1964- Schweizer280-1135 BENJAMIN HERSH, Primary Examiner.

L. D. MORRIS, Assistant Examiner.

